


While the Fire Burns

by A Mess (ErebosBlue)



Series: Messy [3]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: ...I think I was better at tagging before, Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Abusive Deceit Sanders, All tags before the discontinued one are my original tags, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Alternate Universes, Anxiety Attacks, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders is a Sweetheart, But I'm posting everything now so fuck it, Character Death, Deceit Sanders Has a Different Name, Hello my name is Nate and I'm projecting in a weird way, Hurt Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, I also r e a l l y like the Many World theory and use it in weird ways, I haven’t touched this in months, It has been before I even posted it., It's confusing, Kinda, M/M, MORE PROJECTING, Not Beta Read, Past Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Deceit Sanders, Past Rape/Non-con, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sympathetic Deceit Sanders, Thomas is from an alternate universe, Trans Male Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Trans Male Character, Unsympathetic Deceit Sanders, Virgil has a son, Virgil is a badass, Virgil is surprisingly not t o o anxious, Wordcount: Over 10.000, and, but that's only because he channels it in a different way, whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:22:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ErebosBlue/pseuds/A%20Mess
Summary: “You want to know what happened? Well, that’s a long story. Where would I even begin?”“Where this all started?”“Well, we don’t fully know when it started. We remember being told that something was happening, something that could go wrong, but never what was truly happening.”“Oh.”“This isn’t a pretty world, Thomas. We make do, but any one of us would jump at the chance to go to where you come from.”A zombie apocalypse is not what anyone expected would happen that fateful Tuesday. Virgil Storm, a 22-year-old, wants the best for everyone who has saught for cover, but Thomas, someone from an alternate universe, tries to prove that there's more to life than surviving. Virgil, and his team, go back and forth on this idea.Will it matter in the end?Will they be able to survive that long?Who knows.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, I never decided
Series: Messy [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1669732
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is technically pretty old, but since I'm posting everything now, might as well post this fic.  
> It's bad, which is why I didn't post it earlier.  
> Here you go, I guess.

Virgil Storm once had a normal life. As hard as it was to believe, it was true. Virgil once lived with a, semi, normal family. The apocalypse had changed this, for sure, but Virgil felt that his life had changed far before that. But that didn’t matter. Virgil walked around the small camp that had been set up in the forest. Virgil Storm was 22 years old and was the leader in a group of survivors in a zombie apocalypse.

“Virgil?” Virgil looked away from the tree he had been looking at. Patton stood next to Virgil with a hesitant look.

“You alright, Pat?”

“I’m fine, it’s just… Ben is struggling with his powers again.” As soon as Virgil heard the name Ben, he rushed over to where he _knew_ Ben would be. Ben, a small 7-year-old, was standing in a small clearing trying to control the fire coming from his hands. The fire was purple and black and not a lot was sitting in his hands. Ben had a small pout on his face. Virgil crouched down next to him.

“What’s wrong, Ben?” Ben startled as he heard Virgil speak, he clearly hadn’t noticed him. Virgil gave a small laugh as Ben pouted harder.

“Dad! Don’t scare me!” The fire disappeared from Ben’s hands as he pulled Virgil into a tight hug. Ben was Virgil’s son and he was the best son Virgil could ask for. It was difficult to live in an apocalypse with a young child, that was for sure, but Virgil couldn’t imagine life without him. 

“What’s bothering you?” Virgil pulled away from the hug to put his hand on Ben’s slim shoulder.

“I can’t control my fire. It’s the same of yours, isn’t it, dad?”

“It is.” Virgil fully sat down on the dirt beneath them. The clearing wasn’t large, at most it was 10 feet by 15, and the thick woods surrounded it. Virgil lit fire in his hands and lifted it slightly towards Ben. Virgil, with the years of practice, had gotten decently good at manipulating the fire that sprouted from his hands. Ben’s eyes held wonder as the fire slowly move.

“How do I do that?” Ben was obviously very excited about using his fire like his father did.

“Practice. Lots of practice.” Ben pouted once more.

“But dad!” Ben elongated the word dad to make a point. Virgil gave a small smile and stood up.

“No buts. There’s lots of time to practice. Anyone here would love to help, including me, if you need it.” Ben pouted once more, did the kid do anything else, but went back to practicing. Virgil softly laughed to himself and walked back to the main part of camp. Patton and Logan were talking near the targets, no one seemed to be using them. Virgil decided to crash the conversation as finding anyone else seemed like too much work for today.

“Oh. Hello, Virge. How’s the kid?” Logan asked matter-of-factly.

“Pouting like no tomorrow.”

“Wonder where he get’s that from.” Patton joked. Virgil growled slightly and smacked Patton’s arm. “Ow!” Patton laughed and patted Virgil’s head. Patton acted very fatherly to Virgil, he was only _2_ years older, but also liked to use the _2 inches_ he had on Virgil. Virgil couldn’t complain too much as Patton was a good friend and had helped him a _ton_ with Ben.

“Anyway, Logan. How’s everything going?”

“There’s been a spike in sightings, but that’s about it.” There had been a spike in zombies and no one, not even Logan, could figure out _why_. Their camp was only safe as zombies hadn’t made it past the long river. There was no doubt a reason to this, but they weren’t complaining. Animals, unfortunately, also weren’t able to cross.

“Any specific areas?” Logan shook his head slowly. “Wonderful. Send Chris to section 1. Tell him to report if he sees anything at all.” Logan nodded and walked over to the tents that were only a few feet away. Patton’s bright grin seemed to dull.

“Virge… Make sure you get some sleep tonight. You’ve been working yourself down to the bone. I know this is stressful, but- “

“Patton. I will.” Virgil smiled towards Patton.

“I’m just nervous about you.” Virgil knew Patron was and he knew why. Virgil knee he looked like death. He hasn’t slept right in a couple days.

“I know. I’ll make sure I rest today.” Patton nodded and went to walk away, but Virgil grabbed his wrist. “Can you sent Jack to watch Ben? I know he’s safe, but I can’t help but worry.” Patton gave him a reassuring smile.

“Alright.” Virgil was confident that zombies couldn’t pass the river. They’d been in camp, well, Virgil had been in camp for 4 years. Not a single zombie had crossed in that time. However, the clearing was only connected by a trail to the camp. If something went wrong... He couldn’t take that chance.

Jack passed Virgil on his way to Ben and gave him a quick nod. Jack, who was 23, had only joined them recently. He had crossed the river begging to Virgil and Roman, who had been on patrol, to let him stay. He was beat up bad with injuries surely not by zombies. They took him in and addressed his injuries. There were bruises and scratches but nothing that Patton couldn’t handle. He didn’t say where the injuries were from and Virgil didn’t push. That had been a year ago.

Jack still hadn’t told them about his past, but that was pretty expected. Most, if not all, the members of the camp had their past under lock and key to a degree. Even Virgil had a secret past that few knew the details of. K knew the most, but even then, he didn’t know much.

Virgil stopped his thoughts as he faced the edge of the camp. He really was tired if he was letting his thoughts get out of hand. The attitude he held as leader was slowly morphing into the pure anxiety he used to have. Damnit. Virgil messed with the dagger on his side. The number one rule was to always have a weapon at hand. You could never be too safe. Yet, Virgil found a comfort in the weapon that he was not quite used to. 

“Virge? You good?”

“K?”

“Wow. You’re really out of it.” K set his hand on Virgil’s shoulder. “Yeah. It’s me.” Virgil leaned slightly into the touch.

“Yeah. ‘M pretty tired.” I gave a soft chuckle.

“I could tell.” K started leading Virgil to the tents. “C’mon, you need sleep. I promise we’ll survive even if you take a nap.”

“But-“ K shushed Virgil as he led him inside Virgil’s tent.

“It’s okay. I’ll be outside as you take off your make-shift binder. I’ll guard your tent ‘til you wake up.”

“What would I do without you?”

“Who knows, but you won’t have to find out. Now, I’ll be right outside as long as you need.” Virgil nodded as K left the tent. K was one of the three people who knew about, well, Virgil’s situation. Virgil had a different schedule than everyone else to keep it a secret. Virgil took off his black clothes and stared at the binder around his chest. It was the remnants of the binder he had when he was younger and bandages. It wasn’t too fast to put on or take off, but it had lasted him this long. Virgil took it off and looked down once more. He only did this to assess the injuries. Binding like he did was very unsafe and very damaging. If the injuries got too bad, which happened from time to time, he would get himself hurt so Patton would heal him. It wouldn’t heal _too_ much as it wasn’t aimed towards it, but it worked enough.

Virgil put on the night shirt he had and passed out.

* * *

Virgil woke up to a loud beeping. His communicator. Fuck. Virgil had never been gladder that it was audio only. It was Chris. Oh no.

“Chris? Is everything okay?” Virgil tried to not sound tired, but he wasn’t sure if it worked.

“There’s a guy in the other side of the river. He’s out cold. He’ll die if he stays out there!” Chris’ voice was rushed and filled with worry.

“Are there any zombies around?”

“Not that I see.”

“Get him quickly then. I’ll meet you in camp.” Virgil ordered as he started getting changed. Virgil finished fairly quickly rushing out of the tent. K looked heavily surprised as Virgil adjusted his mask as he rushed by. “Grab everyone and bring them to center camp!” K nodded and started gathering people. Virgil went to the clearing to gather Ben and Jack. 

“Virgil?”

“Ben. Jack. Follow me.” Ben followed without missing a beat, but Jack hesitated for a second. Just a second though.

“What’s happening, Virge?” Jack questioned as he walked next to Virgil. Virgil had subconsciously picked Ben up and was carrying him.

“Not sure, but it seems we’re gonna have a new recruit.”

“Oh.” Jack wasn’t used to the recruit routine as he was the last recruit. Virgil, Ben and Jack made it to the center just as the rest arrived. Virgil set down Ben and leaned against a fence. Chris arrived only a moment later with a man on his back.

“He woke up for second, screamed, and passed out again.” Chris laid him down. Virgil crouched down next to him. “It’s amazing how pristine his clothes are and how pre-apocalyptic they are.”

“Let’s wake him up. Logan?” Logan nodded and splashed water on him with his hand. The guy woke up screaming.

“W-Who are you!?”

“Calm down. Chris, here, saved you. You’re safe here.” Virgil tried to explain, but it seemed to make him more confused.

“Safe? Safe from what?”

“The zombies?” Virgil couldn’t tell if he was serious or not. He sounded serious, but there was no way he couldn’t know about the zombies.

“Zombies!?”

“Did you hit your head? We’ve been in a zombie apocalypse for 5 years.” The guy had such a confused look on his face.

“That can’t be. I’ve been going about my life normally for the past 5 years.” Virgil couldn’t wrap his head around this guy.

“Logan?”

“I’m not sure what’s happening. Could it be that he’s not from this universe?”

“…How the _hell_ did you jump to _that_?”

“Well, we’re pretty used to supernatural events and he seems to know nothing of our world. Look at his clothes. It might not be far off.”

“Fair.” Virgil turned back to the guy. “What’s your name?”

“Thomas.”

“Alright, Thomas. Samantha?”

“Yes?”

“Can you take Thomas around camp?”

“Of course.” Samantha helped Thomas up and started leading him around the camp. Virgil gave out a long sigh. Every day something had to happen. Samantha and Thomas came back not 5 minutes later. Virgil greeted them partway.

“I feel it’ll be beneficial if you meet everyone here.” Thomas nodded slowly. Virgil put out his hand. “My name is Virgil Storm. I’m 22 and the leader of this camp.” Virgil motioned for Ben to join him. Virgil picked up Ben who excitedly put out his hand for Thomas to shake. “This is my son, Ben. Why don’t you introduce yourself?”

“Hi! My name’s Ben. I’m 7!” Thomas gingerly shook Ben’s hands and smiled. Virgil set down Ben and motioned to Samantha.

“I’m sure you know a bit about Samantha already.” Samantha walked towards Thomas and held out her hand, which Thomas took.

“The name’s Samantha Cook. I’m 25 and I’ve been in this camp for about 2 years.” Samantha had a strong southern accent that no one could explain. Virgil led Thomas to where Jack, Chris, and Laura were standing.

“This is Jack, Chris, and Laura respectfully. Jack’s been here for only a year while Chris and Laura have been here for 2.” The three nodded when the heard their names. “Jack and Laura are 23 and Chris is our eldest at 26.”

“The oldest is only 26? How are you surviving?”

“We make do with what we have.” Virgil led Thomas over to the largest group of people.

“Woah! Everyone here looks so… different.” Thomas was right, in a way. Jack, Chris, Laura and Samantha wore clothes you would expect in a survivor’s camp. Virgil and the others really didn’t.

“Rude.”

“Princey, calm down. He’s just commenting on the fact that our clothes don’t look like the other’s.” Vincent sneered before looking back at Virgil. Virgil ignored them and went by each of them in a line.

“This is Vincent. He’s our weapons handler and has been here for 4 years. He’s 23.” Vincent nodded slowly.

“Pleasure to meet you, Thomas.”

“This is K. He’s like my co-leader. He’s been here for 4 years as well.”

“Mess with him and you’ll never make it back to your universe.”

“That’s threatening. Please don’t hurt me.” K growled.

“No promises.” Thomas whimpered at the threat. Virgil pushed K away slightly. 

“This is Roman, it Princey as you heard earlier. Like everyone else in the line, he’s 23 and has been here for 3 years.”

“Fantastic to meet you.”

“This is Logan. He’s our smart one.”

“I would like to point out that you, Virgil, are also smart.”

“This is Patton. He’s our healer.”

“If you’re ever hurt, come to me!”

“I’ll keep that in mind in case K decides to keep his promise.” Virgil relaxed as the introductions came to an end. 

“You’ve calm down a lot. Is there any real reason why?” Logan asked walking towards Thomas. Thomas thought for a second before answering.

“I guess because this doesn’t feel real. It seems more like a dream, so I’m not worried.”

“I assure you; this is real. You need to be careful.” Thomas nodded. Though, Virgil didn’t feel that he fully understood how dire the situation could get. Virgil felt himself become light-headed from running around. He must’ve tightened the bandages too much. Virgil leaned against a fence post once more. He couldn’t change it loosen it. K noticed and stood near him. He also whispered a subtle,

“You’re such an idiot.” Virgil had to agree, but there wasn’t much he could do about it now. Vincent also seemed to notice, and he slowly inched his way towards Virgil as well. The rest were talking and bonding. Virgil, K and Vincent chimed in occasionally when they could. It was a pretty peaceful evening with not a lot happening. Vincent has showed Thomas the weapons collection, which Thomas had chosen a sword from. K had threatened Thomas more which caused Virgil to slap his arm. Patton had noticed Virgil’s discomfort, it must’ve been pretty obvious, and healed him slightly. It was thoughtful, but it didn’t help with him breathing. Non the less, he acted as though it completely fixed the problem. He started playing with Ben to stretch the point. If K or Vincent noticed he was lying, they didn’t say anything.

Finally, the night came to a close. Laura showed Thomas to a spare tent that he _immediately_ crashed in. The rest of the crew slowly turned in for the night. Vincent and Virgil were the last two awake. Ben was asleep in Virgil’s tent already.

“You doing alright? I know Patton healed you, but there seemed to be another reason.” Vincent took a deep breath. “I’m sorry for rambling. What I mean to ask is, are you alright?”

“I’m alright. I’m just a little light-headed.” Vincent’s maroon eyes held suspicion, but his expression remained soft.

“If we’re gonna keep talking, you better loosen everything.” Virgil pouted, but knew that the conversations they had were valued too much by him for him to not follow the suggestion. Virgil removed the black forearm armor and threw them in his tend. Well, throw is a strong word. Virgil reached up into his shirt and unpinned the bandages to let them fall. He then set them in the tent.

“Better?”

“I would prefer if you didn’t have your binder on, but I know that you feel uncomfortable when anyone sees you without it.” Virgil went to say something, but Vincent continued talking. “I _also_ know that you feel it doesn’t bind enough.” Vincent pulled Virgil into a swift hug. Virgil was grateful that he was so thoughtful about Virgil’s chest. “You are the leader of this camp with a strong son. You are the person we need and the best person for this job. Your chest doesn’t change anything about that.” Vincent had pulled out of the hug and put his hands on Virgil’s shoulders. Virgil wasn’t gonna cry. He wasn’t gonna cry. And there went a tear.

“You’re such a sap. It’s almost sickening.”

“You know you love me.”

“That seems to be the problem!” The two of them laughed for a it before going into their own tents. Virgil smiled as he saw Ben in deep sleep. Virgil wasn’t super tired after his mid-day nap, but he had to wake up early. So, he forced himself to sleep. Not before changing, of course.


	2. Chapter 2

Virgil woke before anyone else did every morning so he could put on his binder and bandages. Patton’s healing from yesterday had helped a decent amount with the bruising on his ribs. It wasn’t extreme, but the damage had been reduced to a less painful state. Thank god for Patton. Virgil changed into his clothes as quickly as he could, while making sure he didn’t pin the bandages too tight. Ben was still sound asleep which made Virgil smile. Virgil crouched down next to the small child and stroked his short black hair.

Ben looked a lot like Virgil. The black hair, the soft facial features. Ben even had heterochromia liked Virgil. The colors were different, purple and yellow opposed to his purple and green, but Virgil couldn’t help but see himself in them. Unfortunately, like any child, Ben had features that belonged to the… other parent.

Virgil’s hand paused as the memories threatened to resurface. Virgil shook his head. He refused to listen to the dark part of his mind that tempted him to remember once more. The fact that he was even trying to tempt himself felt dirty. If he wanted to remember how Ben was conceived, he would’ve remembered years ago.

“Dad?” Virgil was startled by the young boy’s voice at first. Virgil settled quickly.

“Sh. Go back to bed. Dad’s here.” Ben yawned slowly and closed his eyes.

“Okay.” Virgil smiled as Ben resumed snoring softly. Virgil finished off his outfit and exited the tent. The sun was just barely rising as it usually was when Virgil awoke. The others wouldn’t be up for at least a few hours.

Virgil walked up to the arrow range and pulled out his bow. He could at least use his time to practice. Virgil wasn’t the best shot in the camp, that tittle would go to Vincent or Laura, but he _definitely_ wasn’t the worst. That would be Roman. Roman was skilled with a sword, but bows were… messy. Virgil smiled at the thought of Roman when he aimed his bow. Roman was someone, that was for sure.

Virgil relaxed his body as he continued to aim. It wasn’t as difficult as it used to be for him. He learned, early on in the apocalypse to channel his anxiety into something productive. It was still there, plaguing his mind, but he could now use it and become a leader the camp could rely on. At least, most of the time. Virgil released the grip in the string, causing the arrow to fly towards to target. Bullseye.

Virgil continued this process for a while, getting only one miss when he had gotten too hasty. Still, he would consider the practice a success. Virgil picked up the arrows he had shot. The sun had fully risen, but the only noises to be heard was the wildlife and river. It was odd not even having the distant groans of zombies, but he certainly wasn’t complaining. Logan would be up soon, he had a schedule never broken, which would be nice for bonding.

Logan and Virgil had a nice relationship. They got along where Virgil couldn’t with some of the others didn’t. Logan had a very logical way of looking at things that was refreshing. The others were full of sunshine that could become suffocating.

“Salutations, Virgil.”

“Oh! Hey, Logan.” Virgil turned around to see Logan wearing a soft smile. It was a good look on him. If only Logan was shorter so that Virgil could see it face-to-face.

“Practicing this early?”

“I need to keep improving if I want to keep my title of leader.” Virgil said it in a joking tone, but it was obvious there was something underneath.

“Virgil.”

“I was joking, Lo. I was just bored and decided to practice.” Logan nodded, but Virgil was sure he didn’t believe the half-truth.

“Mind if I join you? I could always use the extra practice.”

“Of course. Sparring or arrows?” Logan gave a sly smile.

“Well, if you offer sparring, then I can’t turn it down.” Logan pulled out his dagger as Virgil pulled out both of his.

“Sparring it is. Rules?” Logan and Virgil circled around each other.

“Cuts permitted, done when we admit defeat. Anything you wanna add?”

“Nope. Sounds good to me.” Virgil and Logan stopped circling. “Ready?”

“Indeed.”

“Then let’s start.” Virgil, as he was known for being fast, darted towards Logan, keeping himself low. It was obvious, sure, but if he was fast enough it wouldn’t matter. Logan moved to dodge, but Virgil was able to get a small nick on his side.

“Sometimes I forget how agile you are.” Virgil straightened out with a small shrug.

“Everyone does.” At a close range, the two were only able to hit and block with their daggers for a while. Logan was able to get a decent slice on Virgil’s arm when Virgil lowered his guard.

“Getting a little slow there, leader?” Virgil gave a quiet huff and raised his weapons.

“You wish.” Virgil went in for another slice, this time landing one on Logan’s hip. Logan went to counter, but Virgil used his other dagger to parry.

“I hate the face that you’re ambidextrous.”

“No, you don’t.” Virgil broke the parry and jumped back. “You’re faster than before. Have you been practicing?”

“I’ll never tell my secrets.” Virgil laughed before raising his weapons up to his chest. Virgil was very protective of his chest. The other’s, besides the people who knew, thought this was because he was protecting his heart. He was more protecting his bandages.

“Then I’ll have to beat them out of you.” Virgil teased, getting ready to launched forward.

“You can try.” Virgil and Logan launched forward, Virgil having the edge on speed. Virgil slashed Logan’s arm before kicking his leg out. Logan managed to take another slice out of his arm. Virgil pressed his boot slightly on Logan’s chest.

“Concede. I won.” Logan waved his arms.

“I concede. I concede.” Logan and Virgil shared a quick laugh as Logan grabbed his dagger that had slid away from him.

“You’re a better fighter than what I usually see you as. Do you hold out on Laura?” Laura was Logan’s usual sparring partner. The both used bows when they could, so Virgil assumed they were a good match. On top of that, they had chosen to fight together. Logan gave a small shrug.

“Not really. Laura’s good at teaching me precision, but I much prefer to practice daggers with you.” Virgil understood where Logan was coming from. Other people were better at things.

“Well, whenever I have time, you can spar with me.” Logan gave a soft smile and nodded.

“Thank you, Virgil.”

“What are leaders for?” Virgil sheathed his daggers and started walking towards the tents. “C’mon. If we want to get healed, we better wake up Patton.”

“Thank god he’s a ball of sunshine.” Virgil had to agree. If it was Roman they had to wake up… They would never hear the end of it. As they walked towards the tents, they saw Patton getting out of his.

“Virgil! Logan!” Patton hurried towards them happily… until he noticed the cuts. “Why are you two hurt?”

“We were doing some sparring. We may have gotten a _little_ carried away,” Virgil explained. Patton frowned a bit but nodded.

“Here.” Patton healed them up, all with a frown on his face. “You guys scare me sometimes.”

“We apologize, Patton. We’ll be more careful next time.”

“Thank you.”

“Jesus Christ. You’re so _loud_.” And there’s Roman. Roman exited his tent looking exhausted.

“Sorry, Roman.” Patton was the first to apologize, but Virgil felt the same.

“It’s fine. I know you weren’t _trying_ to wake me up.” Roman pat Patton on the shoulder and started walking towards the center of camp. As Logan and Patton had started talking, Virgil followed Roman to talk to him. “Plans for today, Virgil?”

“Work out what happened to Thomas and why, and also get food. We’re running low.” Roman nodded. The two continued walking, Virgil following Roman the whole way.

“It’s a little odd, isn’t it?” Virgil tilted his head slightly.

“What do you mean, exactly?”

“Thomas.” Roman gave a curt laugh. “He appears out of nowhere in the middle of the day. He doesn’t know we’re in an apocalypse. We even think he’s from an alternate universe. It’s just crazy.”

“You’re right. Though, it’s not as crazy as anything about the apocalypse.”

“You got me there.” Roman stopped walking when he reached the clearing, causing Virgil to stop. Roman sat down softly on the ground. Not sure what he was doing, but trusting him anyways, Virgil sat down with him. “Have I even thanked you for letting me stay here?”

“Only every time we talk.”

“I mean it. Thank you.” Roman was the last part of the “trio” to arrive. He didn’t talk a lot about his life after the apocalypse, but he did talk about his life before it when the opportunity arose. “I would’ve died if you had sent me away.”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t have. You’re one of the strongest people I’ve got. The only people that top you are K and Vincent.”

“As well as you,” Roman interjected, “but that’s not what I mean.”

“Then what _do_ you mean?”

“I just- I would’ve died because I got kicked out of my old camp.”

“Kicked out?” Virgil hadn’t heard of anyone getting kicked out before. Had Roman done something? Virgil doubted it. Roman had been in the camp for 3 years and had only helped them.

“Yes. I was kicked. Oddly enough, my brother was part of that camp. Don’t know if he was part of that decision, but still. He didn’t leave when I did. Though, I’m really not surprised considering it’s him.

“Roman, that’s awful.”

“It wasn’t fun, that’s for sure, but I was all that horrified. Honestly, I’d say I was more relieved. That camp wasn’t good to begin with.” Roman took a long pause. It was long enough that Virgil began to wonder if he was going to say anything else. “You’re a great leader already, but compared to the other leader, you’re a god. He was such an asshole. He didn’t care about anything besides himself and his power. I swear that dude was a snake in disguise.” The word snake piqued Virgil’s interest more than he would care to admit.

“A snake?” Virgil severely hoped his instincts were misguiding him.

“Yeah. He had these sharp, bright yellow eyes. Almost like Ben’s but _far_ more terrifying and which both eyes. Half of his face had a pattern that resembled snake scales. Plus, he acted like a snake with how he dealt with people.” Virgil felt the small drop of panic start to rise.

“Name?”

“Damien. Why? Do you know him?”

“Fuck.” Virgil’s hands started shaking against his will. Roman knew Damien. Damien knew Roman. Was Damien close to camp? Virgil hoped to god he wasn’t.

“Virge? Are you okay?”

“N-no.” Virgil spoke before his common sense or self-preservation could stop him. Virgil felt a couple tears flow. Fuck. Virgil saw as Roman slowly inched towards him.

“Can I touch you?”

“What?” Virgil could barely hear anything. Roman’s mouth had moved, but the words were impossible to hear.

“Virgil. Can I touch you?” Roman had slowed down to where Virgil could hear him. Had Roman ever seen Virgil in a panic attack? Virgil nodded slowly. Roman wouldn’t… Roman wouldn’t do _that_ to him. Roman slowly pulled Virgil into a comforting hug. “What did he _do_ to you?” Virgil assumed Roman didn’t expect an answer. Even if he did, Virgil wouldn’t be able to give one.

“Get K, please.” The words were slurred together, but that was as good as they were gonna get.

“Alright. I’ll be right back.” Roman went to leave but paused. “Stay safe, Virgil.” Virgil was slightly confused at the words. Stay safe? Could Virgil get hurt sitting in the clearing? An indiscernible amount of time passed before K appeared in front of Virgil.

“Virge? Can you breathe for me? That’s good. In. Out. C’mon Virge. You’re okay.” Virgil slowly calmed down after a while of breathing exercises. “What happened?”

“I’m really sorry, Virgil.”

“’S not your fault. You didn’t know.” Virgil briefly noticed K’s hand on his shoulder as he talked to Roman.

“What wasn’t?”

“I was talking about my past. Apparently, we have someone in common.” K let out a soft growl. K seemed to growl a lot now that Virgil thought about it. Huh. No wonder K reminded him of a dog.

“Was it Damien?” Roman nodded slowly. “That son of a bitch!” Roman took a step back. K sighed and shook his head. Roman looked at him apprehensively before walking over to Virgil and crouched down next to him.

“I know you don’t want to talk now, but I am always here to talk.” Virgil gave Roman a soft smile.

“Thank you.” Virgil didn’t have the enough energy to say something witty. Roman smiled back and made his way out of clearing, walking faster when he was near K. Virgil was sad to see him go, but he knew K wanted to talk.

“So, Roman knew Damien?” K’s voice was soft, but the anger wasn’t hard to hear underneath it. It was a little odd that K started the conversation like _that_ , but there wasn’t really a _good_ way to start the conversation.

“He used to be in his camp with his brother. He was kicked out and came here.”

“That’s two people in this camp that bustard has hurt. That miserable lowlife.” K paced with the passion that Virgil hadn’t seen in a long time. Each word he said spew with a kind of poison reserved for only the worst kind of people.

“He is all those things, and many more things, for sure, but I would prefer if we dropped this conversation for now. Please. K paused and looked at Virgil. Virgil was still on the ground curled into himself to a degree. K’s eyes shifted from pure distain to a look of understanding.

“Let’s go back to the main area. Everyone is up. Don’t worry though, only Roman and I know what took place here.” Virgil felt himself relax when K finished. No one in the camp needed to know what their leader went through when certain things were brought up. Virgil took K’s outstretched hand and lifted himself up.

“How’s Ben?” K gave a soft laugh.

“The kid’s fine. He got scared when he saw me walking towards the clearing. He has a knack for knowing when things are wrong. Like you.” Virgil smiled to himself when he thought about what K said. Ben was a lot like himself, just a better version. That’s all Virgil wanted for his son. “He’s a good kid. I just wish you could raise him in a better world.”

“Me too. Though, I’m kinda glad he was too young to remember the world before. I can’t imagine what it would have been like if he knew the safety that we used to know.” Past the river was safe, but the looming threat was always there. There was no getting rid of it.

“Don’t stress yourself out about that now.” K and Virgil reached the center of camp not a minute after their conversation had ended. Ben, as usual, ran towards Virgil with impeccable speed and tightened his arms around Virgil’s legs.

“Dad!” Ben shoved his head into Virgil’s leg.

“Yes. Dad’s here, Ben.” As Virgil couldn’t move, the group that had been in a circle near the arrow range, migrated towards him. Thomas was up with the rest, wearing clothes that were more appropriate for their situation.

“I let him use my old clothes, if you’re curious.” The fact that Chris was clarifying keyed Virgil to the fact that he had been starring. He must’ve still been out of it from the panic attack.

“Yeah. I couldn’t exactly wear my normal clothes.” Thomas joked, holding a newfound confidence.

“Well, we have to get food. If you feel brave, you can join the group that’s gonna go past the river.”

“That’s where the zombies are, right?” There goes the confidence. Thomas’ voice was shaking and stuttered.

“Yes, but also the animals.” Logan chimed in.

“Virgil, are you sure we should go today? We have someone who doesn’t know how to fight.”

“It’s alright, Samantha. We’ll send a group large enough and get just enough to survive for a week. We’ll go now as it’s day.” Virgil paused and looked at Thomas. “Plus, he has a sword.” Thomas’ mouth fell open as Virgil softly laughed. “We’ll be okay if we stay vigilant. Thomas, you don’t have to go if you feel you won’t be able to.” Virgil took mental note of the people he was going to send depending if Thomas was going. Thomas composed himself before answering.

“Hiding won’t help me if we get into a serious situation. I’ll go.”

“Great.” Virgil moved Ben off his legs, giving him a pat on the head. “Logan, Roman, Thomas and I will go as one group. K, Vincent and Samantha will go as another. Jack, Patton, Laura, and Chris will watch over camp with Ben.” Everyone nodded, understanding their role. “Teams, get ready as we’ll be leaving soon.”

“Yes sir.” A couple of people had said in unison. Virgil was certain that he would never get used to being called sir. Everyone went in different directions to get ready. Vincent had left with Thomas, no doubt to teach him the very basics of fighting. Virgil sat on a log bench and checked over his bow and daggers. That’s when Patton came up to him.

“Virge?”

“Yes, Pat?” Patton fidgeted with his hands slightly. Virgil wasn’t used to seeing Patton with nervous ticks. It only happened on rare occasions.

“Are you sure it’s not a good idea to take me with your group? I may not be able to cure zombie bites, but when they first happen, my magic has a chance to save them.” Virgil stood up slowly. He didn’t want too fast as to not give them impression that he was mad in any way.

“I understand where you’re coming from, but the people I’ve chosen won’t let themselves get bit. Thomas is the only one to worry about, but he has us.”

“But what if someone _does_ get bit?”

“Patton. We do this every 2-3 weeks. We don’t send you with them, do we? I know you’re worried because just about everyone is going, but we’ll be fine.” Patton went to say something but paused. “I know I’m going. Everyone, I guarantee it, is a little worried about me going past the river. I’ve tried to keep that to a minimum, but it’s my job to keep everyone safe. That includes Thomas.”

“Just… keep your promises. _Please_.” The emphasis Patton put on “please” hurt Virgil’s heart.

“I will, Patton. I will.” Virgil patted Patton on the shoulder before walking more towards the center of camp. Everyone had gathered back there, from the looks of it. “Is everyone ready?” Logan walked towards Virgil from the tree he had been leaning against.

“I think everyone is adequately ready. Are you?”

“I am. Let’s head out.” Virgil got on top of another bench that was more towards the center of camp where everyone was. “Remember the goal for today is to get food. My team, we have a secondary goal of getting Thomas used to zombies. K’s team, you’re going to the right field. My team, we’re going to the left. Get in and out of the forest as fast as possible. If anyone gets bit, you know protocol.” Virgil paused to let the information settle. “Let’s head out.” Virgil jumped off the bench and walked over to his team.

“So, if the zombies bite us, we’re done?” Thomas asked as they walked towards the river. The groans of the zombies coming into earshot.

“Not quite. It’s complicated and you won’t face it today.” Logan answered, being as loud as he normally would, compared to Thomas’ hushed voice.

“Shouldn’t we be quiet? I can _hear_ them.” Roman shook his head softly.

“Zombies are deaf. They can’t hear anything.” The group reached the river as Roman finished explaining.

“Remember, in and out of the forest. _Do not linger_.” The group crossed the river, slowly for Thomas. As soon as they entered the forest, they sped up. The forest itself was rather peaceful if you ignored everything to do with the zombies. The birds quietly sang. The trees made gentle noise as the wind blew through them. It was an almost tranquil moment.

The group had made a makeshift barricade around Thomas. Virgil took the lead, Logan had Thomas’ left and back, and Roman had Thomas’ right and back. Even if the zombies couldn’t hear, they didn’t talk. They needed to hear if the zombies were close. Thomas was obviously terrified, but he held up rather well. Virgil was impressed by just how determined he was.

The group arrived in the field after only a couple minutes of power walking. From where they stood, they could already see a herd a deer.

“Stay close to the center of the field. They might be used to human presence and noise, but they can still be spooked.” Virgil dropped the duffle bag he had on his shoulder near the middle of the large field. “We harvest the meat here, but only when we’ve killed our entire hunt. Zombies are attracted to the scent. Thomas, you can stay near the bag if you want.” Virgil pulled out his bow and aimed it at a deer. Virgil released the arrow which went hurling towards the deer, killing it. Logan readied his bow and Roman readied his sword.

At the end of the hunting, the had 3 deer and a rabbit. Thomas had been so proud when he killed the rabbit. They had tried to get more deer, but the deer were pretty fast, and they didn’t have time to waste. The bodies were near the bag being chopped up to the pieces they would bring back. Virgil, Roman, and Logan were proficient at this, but Thomas wasn’t as much. He was still relatively fast considering it was his first time.

As soon as the bag was closed, a groan and footsteps were heard closer than they should’ve been.

“Logan, send the signal.” Virgil ordered, turning around to see a zombie shambling towards them. It was rather normal. Slow and clumsy. It’s green, rotting flesh reeked and threatened to fall off the poor bustard’s body. Virgil was used to seeing them, but they were still disgusting.

“Sent.” Logan hesitated. “Are we going to fight?” A loud thunk was heard from behind them. Thomas had fallen over.

“Thomas, are you alright?” Roman asked, keeping his eyes trained on the zombie.

“That’s a zombie. Holy shit!”

“Thomas, I would encourage you to calm down. We might have to run.” Logan calmly suggested. Virgil debated his options. Fight and chance getting bit, or flee and chance dropping things, losing someone, and or getting trapped by more zombies. The choice was clear, but not one that Virgil would prefer.

“We fight. Thomas, stay behind. Roman, stand ready, but don’t move yet. Logan, you and I are going to try and shoot it down.”

“Got it.” Logan pulled out his bow as Virgil did. Virgil shot first, the arrow racing towards the zombie and hitting it in the eye. The zombie groaned loudly but recovered. Logan shot next, the arrow hitting the zombie in the arm. “Fuck.”

“Calm down. You’ll miss if you get riled up.” Virgil took a step back. The zombie was still a distance away from them, but it was still too close for comfort. Virgil shot another arrow. This one hit where the brain would be on a person. It was a 50/50 chance that they had a brain. The zombie grumbled and toppled over. “C’mon, we need to go. _Now_.” Roman grabbed the duffle and helped Thomas up. Virgil and Logan put their bows away. After everyone was ready, they _booked_ it back to the river.

Virgil logically knew they weren’t at much risk with how fast they were, but he couldn’t help the gnawing feeling in his gut. If they were cornered, they were done for. The once peaceful forest now felt like a death trap. Thomas was breathing raggedly. Logan was frantically trying to send the signal that they had beat it. Roman was trying not to slow down with the duffle bag. It was awful.

They did, eventually, cross the finish line that was the river. Thomas immediately collapsed onto the ground. Virgil knew that the air hadn’t changed when they crossed the river, but it had felt so _heavy_ the entire time they were out.

“Safe! We’re safe!” Virgil felt his body relax as everyone else’s did.

“You guys are okay!” Samantha screeched as her group crossed the river. “We were so scared when Logan sent that signal! What happened?”

“We’ll explain when we’re with everyone.” Virgil explained, taking the duffle bag from Roman. “What’d you get?”

“2 deer. Sorry we couldn’t get more.” Vincent answered, shifting his weight to one side.

“It’s fine. We got 3 deer and a rabbit, curtesy of Thomas.” Thomas lit up when the rabbit was mentioned. K sent a slight smile towards Thomas.

“That’ll be great for variety.” Thomas seemed surprised by the interaction which Virgil could understand. All K had done to him the day before was threaten him. Thomas smiled anyways and stood up.

“Let’s get back to camp.” Roman suggested, which the groups held mutual agreement over. They followed Roman back to the center of camp where everyone was waiting. Ben greeted Virgil with a hug like he always did. Jack, Chris, and Laura looked worried while Patton looked happy. Glad they were back, Virgil guessed.

“The obvious questions is, was anyone bit? The answer is no, Protocol would’ve been followed, and a message would’ve been sent. The second question, what happened? A zombie must’ve smelled fresh meat and followed its nose to us. Logan and I shot at it and it went down. Nothing more happened.” Virgil gave the duffle bad to Chris while Vincent gave his to Laura.

“What’s the total?” Jack asked, walking towards Virgil. Virgil happened to notice that he was missing a shoe. Odd.

“5 deer and a rabbit thanks to Thomas.” Virgil took a second. “May I ask what happened to your shoe?” Jack blushed heavily and took a couple steps back. “I think that answers my question. Go get your shoe.”

“Y-yes sir.” Jack retreated towards his tent. Wait, no. That was definitely Chris’. Relationships weren’t uncommon in the camp, but they weren’t super common either. The last one was Laura and Samantha which hadn’t lasted. Actually, none had lasted. Huh.

“The poor bustard. You didn’t have to embarrass him.” K commented somewhere behind Virgil. Virgil shrugged and turned around.

“It’s midday. He deserves it.” Virgil hadn’t really _known_ why Jack didn’t have his show, but he had problem asking as it _was_ midday after all.

“You’re a cruel bustard sometimes.” K shrugged. “Is there anything else on our agenda today?”

“Besides learning more about Thomas’ situation? Not yet. We’ll see how the day progresses.” Virgil didn’t have anything planned besides asking/figuring out what happened to Thomas. Their normal days were like that too. Have one plan and make the rest up as the day progressed. It was more effective that way. Thomas perked up as he heard his name.

“I would advise against bombarding Thomas with questions. He doesn’t seem to know any more than us.” Logan suggested which Virgil had to agree with. He seemed just as confused as them, if not more so.

“You’re right about that, but I guarantee there’s something we’re missing.” Roman was the last person Virgil expected to chime in, but he was sure happy it.

“Guys. I’m right here.”

“Oh, right. My apologies, Thomas. We’re a little… overwhelmed today. Would you like to be a part in this conversation?”

“It’s alright, Logan. I don’t have anything to add anyways.” Thomas turned to Virgil with a determination Virgil hadn’t expected. “Do what’s best for your camp.” Thomas walked away towards the clearing. Ben had no doubt retreated to the same clearing to practice before food was ready.

“I trust whatever choice you make.” Logan said, setting his hand on Virgil’s shoulder. “Just choose soon.” Before Virgil could say anymore, Logan had turned and left, a blank look on his face. Virgil looked at K who just gave him a reassuring grin.

“See you whenever that rabbit is ready.” K made his leave for the tents. Virgil now stood alone in the center of camp. The benches that were in a circle surrounded him. Virgil couldn’t even remember when they had been set up. Most of the camp wasn’t built by them. Virgil didn’t know if the others knew, but K and Vincent had been with Virgil when he had arrived in camp. Most everything was already there, spare small things like fence posts and some of the tents. It was… unreal. Not to mention the fence that surrounded the backside of the camp, a little farer back then the actual end of camp, that went all the way down to the river. It raised all sorts of questions. Who built it? When was it built? What was behind it? But most importantly:

What was it protecting them from?

It had to be protecting them from _something_ , but no zombies had ever made it past the river. The river went all the way around their little hill. The forest was thick enough behind them that they couldn’t see anything behind it.

No. Virgil’s only objective was to keep his camp safe. Mysteries that could put them in danger were pointless. All they had to do was survive. That was all they had to do and that was all Virgil should think about. Virgil looked up at the blue sky above. It was hard not to focus on everything but had to done was more important. Even if the mysteries were so intriguing.

“Virgil?” Virgil turned around to see Thomas only a couple feet behind him. “Can I speak to you? I’m confused about some things and would like to clear it up if that’s okay.”

“I’m all ears.” Virgil sat down on the nearest bench which Thomas joined him on.

“Thank you.” There was a beat before Thomas continued. “You were talking about signals earlier and I’m competely lost on what that means or how you were doing it.”

“Ah.” Virgil pulled out his communicator and started explaining it to Thomas. He showed Thomas how they could talk to each other through it and send specifics signals through it.

“Where did you find these?” Thomas’ eyes were trained on the device Virgil held.

“We’ve had them since before the apocalypse.” Virgil put his communicator away.

“On that note, actually, how did the apocalypse start?”

“We don’t know. We knew _something_ was happening, but that’s about it.”

“You weren’t told anything? What about the day it happened?”

“We just… woke up to it.”

“Did _anyone_ in any sort of power acknowledge it?”

“Not really. The closest we got were confused cops. No attempt at evacuation was made. Even if there was, we had no time to waste. If we stalled, we were killed. Well, rather turned.”

“That doesn’t seem right. Shouldn’t there have been some attempt at evacuation?”

“I don’t know. Whatever happened is done.”

“Alright, but that still irks me. What about magic? Has that always existed in this world?”

“No. It appeared suddenly. I think it was about 30 years ago. People started being born with powers.”

“Everyone?”

“Not everyone. They only really appeared in specific towns.”

“Specific towns? Did they have anything in common?”

“None that I can think of off the top of my head.”

“Weird. Are powers connected to the zombies in any way?” Virgil went to answer but paused. Were they? Now that Virgil thought about it, powers did appear around that time.

“Maybe. They arrived right around the time of the leak.”

“The leak?”

“Oh, right. The leak was a leak of info that exposed that _something_ was happening. Someone who had worked for the government had released a paper. It read like a horror novel. It was about some sort of plan to get rid of corpses.

“So- “

“No. No, no, no.” Virgil stood up and backed away from the bench. Thomas gave him a worried look and apprehensively stood up. “Thomas. Please go eat. We’ll talk about this later.” Thomas opened his mouth to talk but closed it. Thomas slowly walked away. Virgil knew what was just revealed to him. Some of the mysteries had just been unveiled, others appeared from the dark. They could figure out so much now, but what was the point?

Sure, they might be able figure out what caused the apocalypse, but at what cost? The lives of many? The lives of people he cared about? Even if that wasn’t the case, the chance was too high. They had been surviving for 5 years. Virgil was not going to chance that to figure out the past.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS ONE IS NOT FINISHED.  
> Sorry.

It had been 2 days since they had run into the zombie. Thomas had mainly shut up about what they had discussed, but he still brought it up from time to time. For whatever reason, he really wanted Virgil to unravel the mysteries of the past. Virgil didn’t love this, but he appreciated that Thomas took care to only bring it up when they were alone.

As for the others, K and Vincent had eased up a bit and let Thomas relax when he was near Virgil and Ben. It wasn’t like Virgil had a problem with them being overprotective, but it was nice to see them warm up to Thomas. Logan and Roman had practically taken their spot though. They still trusted Thomas, Virgil could tell, but they made an effort to stay close. It was odd, but nice in a weird way.

Patton was the same as always. He had warmed up to Thomas and stood proud with his decision. Thomas spent most his time with him because of this. Jack and Chris had more officially got together. Samantha and Laura were on tense terms. Apparently, they had a fight one night that they were taking awhile to recover from. Ben was Ben. He stayed by Virgil most days. It was either that or he was off practicing. Virgil knew the clearing was safe, but he _always_ sent someone to look over Ben. If Ben didn’t like it, he never commented on it.

Virgil sat on the cliff over-looking the river. It was early, so no one else was up. The river was normally calm and tranquil, but today it rushed between the rocks like it had some place to be and was deeply late. It was worrying, if not a little amusing. Virgil heard as quiet footsteps approach him, but the moment was too tranquil for him to turn around and question who it was. A body plopped onto the dirt beside him. A moment passed before they spoke.

“I wonder if a storm is coming.” By the voice, Virgil could tell it was Roman, but he turned his head anyway to confirm it.

“It’s not unlikely. Though, that would suck.”

“Why’s that?”

“The river is already fairly high. Who knows what it flooding would do.” Virgil had looked back to the river at that point, but he saw Roman nod from the corner of his eye.

* * *

And that's as far as I got! The next chapter is all my notes for this canceled series. Yes, series. I had a lot planned.


	4. My Notes

My notes for this canceled series!

* * *

**The Leak:**

A Resolution to Fix the Over Abundance of Corpses

BE ENACTED BY THE CONGRESS HERE ASSEMBLED THAT:

SECTION 1: The city of ~~Retracted~~ will be required that all corpses are given to the address of ~~Retracted~~ for testing of the following:

  * If the drug ~~Retracted~~ as intended. ~~Retracted~~ is intended to ~~Retracted~~ and ~~Retracted.~~
  * If the corpses can withstand ~~Retracted.~~
  * If the ~~Retracted.~~



SECTION 2: If the testing turns out successful, the cities ~~Retracted, Retracted,~~ and ~~Retracted~~ will be required to bring their corpses to the building in their cities named ~~Retracted~~. If the cities do not comply, legal force will be applied.

SECTION 3: Funding for this project will be taken from ~~Retracted~~ with a cap of ~~Retracted~~ over a 2 year period.

SECTION 4: This bill will be enacted ~~Retracted~~. 

SECTION 5: Through the passing of this bill, all laws in conflict are declared null and void.

**The Leak without bleeps:**

A Resolution to Fix the Over Abundance of Corpses

BE ENACTED BY THE CONGRESS HERE ASSEMBLED THAT:

SECTION 1: The city of (unnamed city, I didn't name the cities, sue me) will be required that all corpses are given to the address of ~~Retracted~~ for testing of the following:

  * If the drug Cadvus as intended. Cadvus is intended to reanimate and enhance.
  * If the corpses can withstand walking.
  * If the reanimated corpses can turn a human with or without powers.



SECTION 2: If the testing turns out successful, the cities (a whole bunch of unnamed cities) will be required to bring their corpses to the building in their cities named Project N. If the cities do not comply, legal force will be applied.

SECTION 3: Funding for this project will be taken from Nasa with a cap of 10,000,000 over a 2 year period.

SECTION 4: This bill will be enacted January 2nd 20XX. 

SECTION 5: Through the passing of this bill, all laws in conflict are declared null and void.

**Extra Notes on the Leak:**

This bill passed, obviously. It took 5 years to be enacted. The initial testing took 10 years to complete. The enactment of the other cities took a year. The apocalypse started a year later.

Timeline:

(BA = Before Apocolypse)

18 years BA: The bill passed

17 years BA: Powers Appeared + Leak

12 years BA: This bull is fully enacted

12-2 years BA: Testing of drug

1 year BA: Other cities

Apocolypse start.

* * *

**Notes on the leak from me now:**

I literally modeled it after a congress bill because that's all I knew how to format because of speech and debate. Also, that timeline gave me so many issues. I redid it, like, 3 times. There are probably so many issues with it, but I was proud of it at the time.

* * *

**Questionnaire thing??? I was asking myself questions and answering them (and then I corrected them later.):**

(For this section, anything in parathesis is my old notes on my old notes. I was correcting my own notes. Sorry if it's confusing.)

Is the Apocalypse going to be solved?

That could be a lot of fun, but that _might_ be too much for one book to cover. Maybe a sequel is called for? (If only you had known.)

Damien is going to be turned? 

That's my plan for right now.

Is Virgil gonna kill him or take him to camp??? What will the others think?

~~For right now, I'm pretty sure~~ Virgil _is_ going to kill him. He cares too much about his camp and he doesn't want to have to see Damien suffer when he _just_ learned it wasn't really him. The others are most definitely gonna feel bad for their leader. 

If it wasn't really Damien, who was it?

It _techinally_ was Damien, but he was under a sort of curse (not really) and couldn't do anything for himself. Someone basically played him like a skin puppet.

So Virgil and Damien were together?

Yup Damien is Ben's other father.

So, wait. Does Ben know about Damien? Does he even see him before Virgil kills him???

Well, Ben knows he has another father. Virgil used to tell him stories about Damien when he _was_ Damien. Unfortunately, yes, Ben saw Damien right before he got bit. Virgil ordered JAck to take him to camp before Virgil had to kill him.

Does Ben know Virgil killed his other dead.

Yes.

Was Ben have the product of consensual sex?

Yes. "Damien" did r*** him later, but Ben _was_ the product of consensual sex.

(This is from later on)

Did K and Vincent know Virgil before the apocalypse?

Yes, they did. Knew him since he was 15, after he met Damien. Stayed with him through it all.

Wouldn't they have tried to get Virgil away from Damien?

Tried is the keyword. Virgil was in denial.

How was he in denial?

Damien was a really good boyfriend for the first year. That's how Damien really was. Virgil held onto what it was like before. The poor boy held out for so long when he should've let go. He didn't deserve that and neither did Damien. The poor guy could only watch as the person he loved was hurt by "him." 

Isn't that plotline justifying abusive relationships?

No. 1. It wasn't Damien. Not even part of him. It was someone _else_. 2. Virgil and Damien don't get back together. Virgil moved on with someone else. 3. The trauma Virgil has doesn't go away suddenly. 

Who _was_ it?

Undefined. 

If they don't go past the river how do they still encounter zombies?

There's a fence around the back end of the camp. Not directly behind it, a little ways back. It completely blocks out everything as the fence foes down to the river that wraps around. (They didn't build the fence.)

...

And I guess I never finished that question??? Basically, from what I remember, there are zombies past the fence.

* * *

**Notes on that:**

Why do I do this?

I do this for a lot of fics.

Also, that barely explained anything???

* * *

**How the Apocolypse Started:**

The apocalypse was started on purpose. Powers, not so much. The government's solution to all the problems that popped up in the world was: Mass Genocide with Reanimated Corpses. They planned to hide and stop the apocalypse after 10 years. How? A "cure." The cure would kill the corpses that turned into zombies and turned zombies that had been turned for 3 years or more. The cure would turn turned zombies for less than 3 years back into people. They also hoped that some people would survive. Powers were a side effect. Did they succeed? Are they still waiting? That's for you to find out. In book 2 because I'm a little shit. (At least I'm self-aware.)

* * *

**Notes on that:**

What the fuck???? I barely understood that and _I_ wrote it?

* * *

**Series Shit (I'm writing this word for word. So, it does get confusing. I'm sorry.):**

Series name: Burning Fire

Book 1:

\- Thomas appears

\- They realize there's something more to the apocalypse

HOLD UP

I need to edit. Virgil immediately goes to Logan to figure this shit out, but this entire book is about Thomas trying to convince him there's more to life. (I did actually update this, so you did not read this.) Wait! What if Virgil tries to ignore the information, but at the end of the book, when the Deceit stuff happens, he goes for it. ENTER BOOK 2. 

Hell yeah!

Is there going to be a 3rd book? 

Hmmmmmmmm

I'm not sure. They end the apocalypse in book 2, but the 3rd BOOK COULD BE GETTING THOMAS HOME. YES.

3 BOOKS.

(Oh my god the caps are ridiculous.)

Book 1: While the Fire Burns

Book 2: As the Fire Burns Hotter

Book 3: The Fire Finally Burns Out

Book 1:

Thomas appears in a world that's been in a zombie apocalypse for 5 years. Virgil, the camp leader, is just trying to keep his camp alive, but the world seems to have other plans. Thomas tries to convince him to look into the mysteries brought up and _live_. Virgil refuses... until Damien turns and he has to kill him.

Book 2:

Virgil and crew go on a journey to find out what happened. Not going past the river, but going the other way. They find the scientist who, basically, made everything happen. They find out the truth and end the apocalypse. The lose Vincent along the way.

Book 3:

The camp tries to adjust to normal life again. Thomas is itching to go home. The camp tries to get Thomas back. In the end, they do. 

End of series. 

* * *

**Notes:**

Honestly, this could've been pretty good. I just don't have motivation for this thing. I never will. It was pretty basic, but it was a good start and would've been good practice if I had the motivation. I'm glad I'm writing Alone for Another Night now.

* * *

**This was me deciding who to kill in the second book:**

Patton - Patton is the healer, without him, there may be a higher amount of tension and consciousness, but that also means I would have to cut back on Zombie encounters.

No one - Damien _was_ already killed, but only one death might be too little.

Who Virgil ends up with - Great for character development, not great for gay. _And_ Damien has already died at this point.

The one he doesn't - Not as powerful, but would be good character development. But then it seems like they were _just_ there to be a love interest. 

K - Again, great for character development, but K is a character that knows Virgil best and has a great dynamic with the characters that might not be good to lose.

Vincent - Vincent might be the best choice. He knows a lot about Virgil, and they have a great dynamic, which means it's great for character development, but he's not as much of a loss as K. He's a nice mix. 

Let's go with VIncent. 

* * *

**Notes:**

Don't have much to say. I think it was smart to go through it like that instead of just randomizing it.

* * *

**Character info shit:**

Heights:

Virgil - 5'2

Roman - 6'

Logan - 5'11

Patton - 5'6

K - 5'11

Vincent - 5'9

Thomas - 5'10

Ben - 3'8

Damien - 5'11

Remus - 6'

Samantha - 5'6

Laura - 5'4

Chris - 5'8

Jack - 5'7

Ages:

Virgil - 22

Roman - 24 

Logan - 24

Patton - 24

K - 23

Vincent - 23

Thomas - 27

Ben- 7

Damein - 23

Remus - 24

Samantha - 25

Laura - 23

Chris - 26

Jack - 23

Eye Colors:

Virgil - Purple and green

Roman - Red

Logan - Dark blue

Patton - Light blue

K - Teal

Vincent - Maroon

Thomas - Brown

Ben - Purple and yellow

Damien - Yellow

Remus - Dark green

Samantha - Brown

Laura - Brown

Chris - Green

Jack - Blue

* * *

**Notes:**

It's character info...

* * *

**Names:**

Virgil Storm

Roman Prince

Patton Hart

Logan Berry

Luke (K) Knight

Vincent ... I never got his last name I guess???

Damien ... Or Damien's I guess

Remus Prince

Samantha Cook

Ben Storm

(... And I don't have last names for the rest. Guess I gave up on that.)

I technically forgot to mention in these notes that K's name is Luke. Oops.

* * *

And we're done! This was so surreal. I hope you had fun reading my nonsense.


	5. I found new notes!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I found some more notes in an old notebook!  
> So, I thought I might as well transfer them over here.  
> There might be some overlap in information, so sorry about that.

Again, sorry if some of these notes state the same stuff from last time, I'm just transferring the notes.

* * *

**Plans for the Apocalypse:**

Before we being, some to keep clear:

The apocalypse was on purpose, _the powers were not_. 

The government's solution to the problems that popped up in the world was mass genocide. _More on that later_. (I literally said that in the notes.)

The apocalypse is/was only supposed to last 10 years. After 10 years they were going to, the apocalypse ends before this, administer a cure.

The cure kills corpse zombies (in these notes zombies are separated by what turned them into zombies. Check the old notes if you don't remember.) and turned zombies that were turned for 3 years or more. If the turned zombie is younger than this, then they'll turn back. (How does that even work?)

They hope/hoped the decreased population would solve their problems.

They went into hiding to survive.

* * *

**Notes on that:**

That was a _way_ more cleaned up version than the last one, so I actually understood it. The turning back makes no sense, but hey, it's better than it was before. It's still too vague for a whole story plot, but with some work, it could still work.

* * *

**Zombie Bites:**

Zombie bites can turn humans as we can see with Turned Zombies. (1. This is when I started capitalizing the groups, but also 2. What was the point of that note???) However, you're not completely doomed if you get bit.

First, the place of the bit deeply matters as it shows how savable you are. 

Neck or above - You're dead.

Shoulders to mid-chest including arms in that section - You're most likely dead, but could possibly survive.

Rest of torso including arms - Decent chance of survival. 

Hands - You'll most likely live.

Thighs - Decent chance of survival.

Shin/Claves - Decent to high likelihood of survival.

Feet - How did that happen? You'll most likely live. (I literally wrote it like that.

**Those only apply if treatment is attempted.**

Treatment options and effectiveness:

Healing magic: If caught early enough, it works almost 100% unless it's neck or above.

Tourniquet: Only effective with arms and legs and even then it can cause more harm than good. Normally a last-ditch effort. 

Cutting off limbs: Only effective at stage one (I explained this later) and can be more trouble than it's worth.

(I didn't finish this.)

Zombie bites fully turn someone in stages, that the length of relate to the location once more. (That was worded so messily.)

Head or necks: Fully turned after 4 hours unless it penetrates the brain directly, but that's nearly impossible.

Stage 1: 1 hour

Stage 2: 1 hour

Stage 3: 2 hours

Stage 4: 1 hour

Shoulders to mid-chest: Fully turned after 9 hours

Stage 1: 2 hours

Stage 2: 2 hours

Stage 3: 3 hours

Stage 4: 2 hours

Rest of torso: Fully turned after 13 hours

Stage 1: 3 hours

Stage 2: 3 hours

Stage 3: 4 hours

Stage 4: 3 hours

Thighs: Fully turned after 13 hours

Stage 1: 3 hours

Stage 2: 3 hours

Stage 3: 4 hours

Stage 4: 3 hours

Shin/Calf: Fully turned after 13-21 hours

Stage 1: 3-5 hours

Stage 2: 3-5 hours

Stage 3: 4-6 hours

Stage 4: 3-5 hours

Hands or feet: Fully turned after 21 hours

Stage 1: 5 hours

Stage 2: 5 hours

Stage 3: 6 hours

Stage 4: 5 hours

What each stage is:

Stage 1: When the Zombie bites you, it's teeth basically inject Cadvus (the Zombie drug) into your bloodstream. _More on this late_ _r._ Stage 1 is where the drug, Cadvus, makes its way through the bloodstream. _That's why a tourniquet can be helpful very early on._ The drug is mainly passive at this time except for the bite itself which turns greeny-yellow. 

Stage 2: Now that Cadvus is all throughout your body _via stage 1_ , Stage 2 activates it. Stage 2 activates it to start attacking the cells. This doesn't kill them, yet, but starts weakening everything. (That makes no sense, but sure.)

Stage 3: Cadvus starts killing cells in this stage. Cadvus kills cells one at a time and infects them. Starts in the feet and makes its way up to the brain. 

Stage 4: Infecting the brain will render them a zombie. (There's a large blank space here for some reason) and cutting off the limb can only be done during the early stage 1. After that, it's already over.

* * *

**Notes on that mess:**

This will be easier in a numbered list. 

1\. I know that is not scientifically accurate. I made this with what little knowledge I have and I didn't bother to actually double-check since this is a fanfic. Fair enough honestly. It still makes no sense, but whatever. It could have been interesting.

2\. That made no sense. Why would the placement of the bite matter if it goes throughout the entire body all the same? Does it somehow make it faster? I really didn't think that through.

3\. It was at least all the information I would generally need. It was concise enough as well.

* * *

**Virgil's/The Camp's Zombie bite Procedure:**

-If Patton is present when someone is bitten, below the neck, healing magic is given immediately.

-If someone is bitten above/on the neck, they are to be killed.

-If the bite is below the neck and magic can't be given, the person has the right to choose whether they're treated or killed.

I didn't finish that one!

* * *

**Notes on that:**

It was a good start, but I didn't exactly finish it. 

* * *

And that's all! Those are the notes I found in my notebook!

Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
